Dumb-bell.



H. w. TITUS.

DUMB BELL. APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1909.

Patented Dec. 27, 1910.

Fig: 1

IN WIN TOR Henry W Tit us.

arromvsr WITNESSES:

STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

HENRY W. TITUS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DUMB-BELL.

Application filed July 23, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WV. TITUs, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dumb- Bells, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby anyone skilled in the art may make and use the same.

The invention relates to exercising apparatus or dumb-bells. That is, adevice having weights interconnected by a bar or handle which may beused in gymnastic exercises for developing the strength and muscles ofthe user.

It relates more particularly to dumb-bells in which the weight may bevaried at will to give a gradual increase or decrease in weight to varythe conditions of exercise.

It is so arranged that it may be'readily assembled or taken apart tosecure the greatest convenience in shipment or for packing whiletraveling.

The objects of the invention are, to provide a very simple and efficientdevice, which may be constructed at an economical cost and will havefeatures of adjustability as to weight and compactness when unassembled,which make it especially desirable for use as a folding or knock-downdevice.

A further object is to provide a very simple and very light structure,the parts of which are so arranged that, when fitted together, they willform practically an integral structure having great stability andstrength, and adapted to be weighted to any desired degree.

Referring to the drawings :Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of thedevice. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the spheroids or balls showing theattachment of the parts to the handle. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional viewon the line 33 of Fig. 1. v Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of theparts making up the spheroids or balls.

Dumb-bells have long been used in various systems of physicaldevelopment and have been formed in various ways. Usually, a shorthandle or grip is employed with a pair of spheroids at either endthereof, and, in some instances, these spheroidso r balls have been madedetachable with reference to the handle. Dumb-bells have also been em-,ployed with a long handle or bar having weights at both ends, and arecommonly Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 27, 1910.

Serial No. 509,137.

known as bar-bells. There is also the Wellknown form of kettle-bellwherein the handle is attached to the spheroid or weight of any desiredform, the handle being in the form of a loop. Such devices haveheretofore been made in more or less cumbersome forms and of suchstructure that they could not be readily or conveniently taken apart andpacked for transportation, while traveling, and it is one of theprincipal purposes of the present invention to provide a suitabledumb-bell for exercising purposes wherein the several parts of thedevice may be nested together and packed in a comparatively small space.

In a co-pending application, Serial Number 47 5,458, filed February 1st,1909, there is shown a device which meets certain of the conditionsabove indicated. In the present device, however, the parts are soarranged that there can be no leakage of the weighting material duringthe manipulation of the device and without materially increasing theweight, the device may be made much stronger and more eflicient.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1, denotes a short handle havinga central bore 2, through which may be passed a spindle or bar 3. Oneither end of said handle are arranged hollow spheres or spheroids 4, 5,of special construction. Each of these spheroids consists of an outercasing 6, and an inner casing 7, which fit snugly about each other andare held in place upon the bar 3, by any suitable means as for instance,clamping nuts 8. The outer casing 6, is formed of two hemisphericalsections each provided with a perforation 9, 10, through which the bar3, may pass. These hemispherical sections are divided'on a linesubstantially at right angles to the axis of the bar. The inner casing7, is composed of two hemispherical sections 11, 12, the meeting edgesof which are on a line parallel with the axis of'the bar 3, andsubstantially at right angles to'the meeting edges of the sections ofthe outer casing. These inner hemispherical sections are provided withsemicircular recesses 13, 14, 15, 16, formed in the edges of the shellsections and arranged to-form, when the shell sections are properlybrought together, openings through which the bar 3, may pass. It will benoted that the inner casing fits snugly within the outer casing and thatthe parting lines of the several hemispherical sections clamping nuts.

are substantially at right angles to each other.

Through one of the outer hemispherical members is a perforation 17 andarranged in one of the inner hemispherical members is a perforation 18,the two openings 17,18 being situated in the same planes cutting theaxis of the bar 3 at right angles. By

slightly loosening the clamping nuts, the

outer hemispherical member may be turned until its perforation registerswith that of the inner casing member, and thereupon shot, sand, or otherweighting material may be introduced to or removed from the hollowspheroids. I

It is quite immaterial whether the perforations are formed in theoutermost section as indicated at the right of Fig. 1, or in theinnermost section, as illustrated at the left of Fig. 1. When the outercasing member has been relatively moved with reference to the innercasing, the perforations will be brought out of registerin position andthe opening to the interior 0 the sphero1d W111 therefore be closed.

It is intended to form the several hemispherical sections from a verylight material as, for instance, sheet steel pressed to form, and byusing an inner and outer cas- '1ng with the parting lines of itssections substantially at right angles to each other, a very strongstructure is provided, and one which will .withstand a considerablecompression strain. As the parts are all pressed up from sheet steel orlight material, there is practically no danger of fracture, such asoccurs when a cast spheroid is thrown with considerable force, or isdropped upon a floor. It will be noted that the several parts of thedevice are firmly clamped and locked together by a single bar passingentirely through the device and secured in place by There is a specialadvantage in providing these thin stamped up spheroidal members, in asmuch as they may be made from a comparatively light material and yet,when assembled, will give sufficient strength to retain variable-weightsintroduced to the interior thereof. Furthermore, the variations inweight may be varied to almost an infinitesimal degree. By graduallyincreasing the weights used for daily exercise, a gradual development ofmuscular condition may be attained, which will preclude the possibilityof forcing which gives knotty, hard muscles with improper circulation.WVith this device, the muscles may be so gradually developed that thedesired length of fiber and toughening of tissue may be secured withperfect blood circulation. Any condition of development may be securedby proper variations in the weighting of the spheroids, and the user maycontinue his use of the device even while traveling, as the severalparts may be closely nested together and readily reassembled. Forinstance, the several hemispherical parts may be nested one within theother, occupying very little space and yet, when assembled, may befilled with the finest sand or shot without liability of leakage, evenwhen the parts are loosened to add more material. This is the particularadvantage of having the inner and outer casing, in which the meetingedges of the hemispherical section may be brought closely together. Aslight slackening of the binding nuts will be all sufficient, to permitmoving the sections, so that the perforations 17, 18, will come intoregistering position, and weighting material may then be introduced orextracted, without liability of leakage between the meeting edges of thehemispherical members.

The device may be made invarious forms, either as a hand-bell, bar-bell,or kettle-bell, without departing from the spirit or intent of theinvention.

Obviously, the form of the several sections of the casings might bevaried, to any desired extent, to provide weight receptacles of varioussizes and shapes, and the detached arrangements might be changed, to aconsiderable degree, without departing from the spirit or intent of theinvention, which contemplates the double walled casing or weight recetacles having sectional walls.

What I c aim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is Adumb-bell having a handle and provided with weight receptacles, and aconnecting bar passing through said handle and weight receptacles, saidweight receptacles comprising inner and outer casings, the inner casinghaving two hemispherical sections forming a hollow spheroid with theline of juncture parallel with the axis of the bar, the outer casinghaving two hemispherical sections forming a hollow spheroid closelyencircling the inner spheroid and with the line of juncture transverseto the axis of the bar, a perforation through one of the sections of theinner casing, and a perforation through one of the sections of the outercasing adapted to be brought into registering position upon relativerotation of the parts.

' HENRY w. TITUS.

Witnesses:

L. C. OETTINGER, KATE BRENNER.

